Curated OER
Noisy Nora, Studious Students: Story Elements
Alliterative adjective nicknames generate stories inspired by Rosemary Wells' book Noisy Nora (also a thematic complement to any class with children who make a ruckus to get attention). Class members explore basic story elements --...
Scholastic
Tell Us a Tale: Teaching Students to Be Storytellers
Encourage scholars to retell their favorite short story or folktale, adding personal details to make it their own. After reading their book of choice several times, story tellers retell a tale verbally to their classmates.
Curated OER
Elements of Fiction
Students identify key story elements in a fiction text. In this literacy lesson, students are introduced to the various elements of fiction such as the setting, plot, and theme. Students read a short story of their choice and identify...
Curated OER
Silver Blaze and Other Stories
In this Silver Blaze and Other Stories reading and study guide worksheet, students respond to 8 multi-step short answer, multiple choice, and graphic organizer questions. The questions are designed to be answered before, while, and after...
Curated OER
Morality "Tails" East and West: European Fables and Buddhist Jataka Tales
Have your class explore Buddhist Jataka Tales to compare and contrast them to European fables. After defining fables, Jataka tales, and the elements of each, learners identify themes and patterns for both types of narratives and the...
Curated OER
Do-deca-he-dron-It's Greek to Me!
Learners create a dodecahedron shaped visual report of the literary elements of a short story.
Curated OER
Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: Mixing Words and Pictures
Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy instructional activity focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then...
School Specialty
The Tortoise and the Hare - Drawing Conclusions/Predictions Outcomes
Does the fastest one always win the race? Look deeper into The Tortoise and the Hare with a set of discussion questions for before, during, and after reading the story.
Curated OER
Mystery Lessons
Learn about mysteries with your readers. They will investigate plot, basic elements of mystery, famous characters, and become familiar with genre vocabulary. Bring in props and mystery books to begin and then have learners create story...
Curated OER
Predictions, Predictions, and More Predictions
Third graders pose questions about the subject of a short story based on the title and cover illustration; then read the story and determine if their questions actually pertained to the story line, and, if so, how the story answered the...
Curated OER
Rudyard Kipling's "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi": Mixing Fact and Fiction
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," from The Jungle Book, offers young readers a chance to examine how Rudyard Kipling uses setting and personification to bring to life the brave mongoose who battles cobras to protect his family. Class members explore...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - Muggle-Wump Has an Idea
If a bar of chocolate was on the floor, would you try to pick it up? What if it was covered with glue? The eighth lesson in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl has scholars imagine crazy scenarios. The lesson...
Curated OER
Problem and Solution Lesson
Students explore problems and solutions in literature. In this literature lesson, students identify problems and solutions in short guided and independent reading samples. Students also discuss characterization techniques used to develop...
Curated OER
Animaters and Lego Mania!
Students use various technology elements to storyboard and create an animal animation story based on a nonfiction story they've read. In this animation story instructional activity, students work in groups and read nonfiction animal...
Curated OER
Creating Comic Strips
Learners recognize the elements needed to create a comic strip. In this comic strip lesson, student understand that comic strips need words and pictures. Students find differences and similarities in comic strips. Learners describe how...
Curated OER
Critic's Choice
Third graders read three to five genres and choose one as a favorite. They write an essay persuading the class to read the genre. This lesson serves as a nice introduction to different styles of literature.
Curated OER
Christmas at Mud Flat Lesson Plan
Students analyze the characters in the book Christmas at Mud Flat. In this early childhood lesson plan, students analyze characters in the book, then choose which character they personally identify with the most. Students then use...
Curated OER
Wycinanki and Polish Folktales
Students, with the use of the Internet among various other resources, research/locate Polish folktales and re-tell the Polish folktales in their own words. In addition, they examine the art of Wycinanki, Polish paper cutting.